“Daphne, wait a tempo. We will, of course, accompany you,” Nash says, stepping out behind me.
I bite my lip. “I need to return to the Hallows as fast as I can. Gwyneth needs me.”
“I understand, I would do anything for my brothers. But rushing in without a plan isn’t the best course of action. Ride with me and we will devise a plan on the journey.”
“Also, you have no clue which direction you should go,” Hart snaps as he spills from the house, followed by Malachi and Theo.
“Of course I do,” I say while scratching my neck. I lift my hand and point down the street we traveled in on. Amusement dances in Hart’s eyes. I swing my finger in the opposite direction. “That way.” Okay, so I’m directionally challenged.
Malachi chuckles. “Stables first, Daphne, then we ride in that direction,” he points to the right. I press my lips together. Okay, so I need help to get back to the Hallows. But then they can go be knightly while I rescue my sister from Charming’s cruel punishment. I will gut that man. Not intentionally, but if I hold a knife in his general vicinity, he will end up impaled on it. It’s the Daphne law. Oh, I like that—having a law named after me.
Theo snaps his fingers in front of my face as Nash and Hart lead the four horses down the street toward us. “What are you thinking, pretty mouse?”
My lips kick up. “Whether they will name a law after me when I murder Charming.”
“It’s no less than he deserves,” Theo says as he grips my chin and drops a kiss on my lips. “But a murderous maiden will face consequences. Let us deal with Charming for you. There are ways of making someone disappear or befalling an unfortunate end that won’t rouse suspicion.”
I’m in trouble. If I wasn’t falling for them before, I am now that they are plotting murder, not in my name, but for that of my sister.
Nash winks at me from the top of his horse. So much trouble.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Progress is slower than I would like, but no doubt faster than on foot. I contemplate asking Theo to dragon out so I can ride on him all the way to The Hallows, but I think that might be rude, plus a little conspicuous. Hamish and Eugene are riding in a makeshift sling on either side of Theo’s horse. They look happy to be there.
The realm is still in the throes of early rising, so we encounter few fairy folks as we pass through Far, Far Away and enter The Hallows. Nash diverts our horse to the right.
“Where are you going?” I ask. “I don’t have time for one of your quests right now. I’m on my own ‘save a maiden’ project this diurnal.”
“There are a hundred ways into the palace,” Nash declares as the others follow us. “And if you are on such a quest, marching through the front door and challenging the most influential Hallowed is not wise.”
“We are sneaking in?”
“We are.”
They know so many secret entrances to these places, ways of getting in and out, with no one being the wiser.
The street dips, then we come up and around the back of the palace. I scan the quiet gardens and windows for the sneaky Hallowed. I can’t spot any of them, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
“If she’s in the Tower of Consideration, there’s a tunnel that leads directly below and has a hidden set of stairs that leads to the top. They won’t even know you are there,” Nash tells me.
Huh, it’s coming in handy having a bunch of knights with sneaky knowledge of The Hallows. Is there anywhere they can’t sneak in?
Hart halts at the foot of a grassy hill. The palace towers into the sky before us.
“Where is this tunnel?” I question, looking for a grand entrance.
Nash points at the small hole, barely wide enough to fit a person in. I blink. “That’s not a tunnel. How will the horses fit inside there? Do they shrink?”
Nash chuckles as Malachi vaults off his horse and, in a move now well practiced, hands me down from Nash. My feet thud onto the floor.
“We will stable the horses,” Hart tells us. “Then meet you in our chambers once you have decided on what to do with the maiden.”
“Gwyneth,” I snap. “She has a name.”
Hart levels me with a look. “We all have names, but that is an inconsequential fact when the narrative is in play, and Gwyneth is at the center of the Cinderella fairy tale, whether she likes it or not. There is no escaping, so you just have to figure out a way to live with the demands of the Idols.”
“No one is pecking out my eyes,” I grump. I’m clumsy enough. Being blind, I’d meet a colorful end within a turn.Here lies Daphne Stone. She struggled with perfect vision, so she had a negative zero chance without it.
